My band, Dollar Store Riot, humbly shared the stage with Overlake back in January 2014 @ NYC’s Parkside Lounge. When the show promoter told me we will be playing with a “shoe-gaze band from Jersey City” I was immediately intrigued. A shoe-gaze band in 2014? And from Jersey no less? Fate took the wheel as I was one of many completely blown away by their set and eagerly looking forward to their soon to be released record to validate that what I heard live beautifully transposed to any type of recording.

And boy, were things quickly validated.

Sighs, Overlake’s first full length release on NJ’s own Killing Horse Records, was released yesterday (4/15) , but I have been devouring the pre-release sale free mp3 download of the album for weeks now. Sure band members Tom and Lysa were sweet to buy me a birthday shot at the above said post-show, but that doesn’t influence nor change the fact that Sighs is hands down a consistently solid fucking effort and one of the best releases of 2014. For certain you can hear pinches of I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One, dashes of Loveless and touches of You In Reverse. Based on the recent press, a lot of the equally impressed critics do too, claims the band won’t deny, yet somehow pull off their own smorgasbord of familiar sounds with unique freshness.

Sighs is simply a beautiful, whispy, swirly reverby experience (just what you expect from a shoe gaze band in 2014…from Jersey no less) from start to finish with too many good songs to mention (read: ALL of them, my favs being ‘Disappearing” and “Our Sky”). It is a perfect soundtrack for a stroll through lonely, rainy NYC streets or Sunday drive through the sunny, Jersey burbs. If you need further proof, Sighs is probably one of the very, very few records I overheard my 9 year old son whistling along too in the back seat. Get. It. Now.

Here’s your weekly dose of excellent FREE singles and MP3s from around the globe of indie. Some of them are even exclusively found here. We highly suggest you fan them, then support likes of The Van Doos, Milan Jay, Stagnant Pools, Mutes or The Van Doos when they do their thing live. Dudes in bands need fans and if you happen to be a hot chick or handsome bloke even better. Tell them Review Stalker sent you. Because we too like it when bros and gals buy us beers at our local pub. Makes this all worth while as we really do try and filter everything we get to bubble nothing but the best. Enjoy!

Mutes – We love our shoegazer around here and here’s something to crank on the autobahn. This comes out in May on One Note Forever. It’s a washed out track made of faded dreams drenched in sweet delicious reverb. This should actually make you stand straight-up so you can get a better listen right into the speakers and turn this up. facebook them and shit and us to while you’re fucking at it.RIYL: MBV, MBV, MBV

Stagnant Pools – We dug these noisters when we first discovered them last year and we’re still fans. they have a another record coming out June 10th called Geist on Polyvinyl Records. Very sonic youth oriented in all the right ways.

RIYL: Jesus and Marychain

Milan Jay – OK the best way to describe this dirty bass, rap music from Ireland if you took “Gratitude” by the Beasties and mashed it up with KFDM or ministry with some white dudes rapping on it. It’s pretty good. They call themselves a electro band but we think it’s much better than most EDM shit. Here is their track called “Get Ghost” – which you can get on bandcamp and throw them a couple euros.

RIYL: HIP HOP, WARTIME (Andrew Weis, Sim Cain, Rollins)

The Van Doos – Yes, bandwagonesque riff rock that is very very much English in all the right ways. Big loud and crunchy snares hits tilts this to some early oasis or radiohead(pablo honey). Very catchy taster that is going to be on their debut album Fingertips. Highly recommend you download this baby we’re looking forward to the rest already. Their video is pretty cool too and we would be pretty deft if we didn’t point out the artwork looks exactly like our web background skin. Get with the program facehookers.

Distortion Girls – Evol era (yet a another sonic youth reference) space psyche slow jam. Female led drone vocals that is like slow fucking that is super errie with the organ doing it’s thing in the background. It’s sexy in a very gothic kind of way. If you speed it up to 45 might seem weird. Like them you facehookers. They now have exactly 2 people talking about them.

SINGLE REVIEW: If godflesh were 50% a little mellower and Air a little more agressive that is where this electric jam by Sleep Sleep falls comfortably with a mix with the spacial sounds of the flaming lips in mind. You could it shoegaze but the drum machine will tell you fuck no — that is not exactly right. Then you hear this Smog cover of “Teenage Spaceship” and you’ll start to get it. I hope it comes with a big light show. I hope they have a drummer live but either way this is the good shit from Vienna Austria. Somehow 3leep 3leep have jumped out a delorean fueled by 80s electronica Time machine and landed in 2013.

Here’s a couple dope brothers from Indiana in a band they call Stagnant Pools making this shoegaze rock dark and dank like Pyscho Candy. Not sure I need to say much more except we’re looking forward to hearing more of these gritty space jams. If there is not a more desolate place in the middle of the night I’ve ever driven down this is what the road sounds like.
Download: Consistency MP3 single by Stagnant Pool

They also remind me of The Sleepover Disater Disaster from Central San Joaquin, California.

This next thing is by 17 year old prodigy Seamus Patterson calling himself Monks & Melrose. I think he’s at least heard the Lost in Translation sound track which visceral soundscape is present in his debut record called Ottowa. Check this out then go and download his whole record for free. You’ll thank me.
Download: Birds & Wings MP3 by Monks & Melrose from Ottowa

I’m going to try and keep these documentary style installments coming. Part II is already done. Here’s Part 1 of the what will be a Über trailer from a truly american shoegaze treasure as Jack puts it – The Sleepover Disaster. Long story short this is part of larger “non-musical” documentary project I work on called create or else about inspiration or at least that is how this started – I ended up with a ton of footage. So these are the musical fruits of which I intend to share all the great moments with you rock fans. When it’s done it will be a nice short documentary on Jack Rabid’s Big Takeover fans, friends and bands he featured last summer at the Bell House in Brooklyn. So subscribe to the RS channel on the Utubes or RS in the twitterverse to be in the know. Lets see I can keep this up all summer long! Lord of the rock gods like Krokus only knows I have enough music to make it so. So your encouragement will be needed. I’m just psyched to watch my editing skills get better with each one. We’ll see.

Next week: A song by Jon Auer of The Possies.

The Sleepover Disaster at The Big Takeover's 30th anniversary show

Shoegaze fans:Dark Star MP3 by The Sleepover Disaster from their release called Hover. Somewhere between space walking and swimming in a clear ocean where you can breath the elements is where the beauty of this Fresno California band’s shoegazer music lives. Get Some »

More music like this:100 Million MP3 by Sunny Day Real Estate from How It Feels to Be Something OnConfess MP3 by Catherine Wheel from Chrome (1993)Only Shallow MP3 by My Bloody Valentine from Loveless (1991)Sci-Flyer MP3 by Swervedriver from their album Raise (1991)

In keeping with our fem fatale singers theme this week. Here’s a a couple crushers that could easily mystically cut you up with their guitars or voice or both! Leaving behind a puddle of manhood from their gaze if they so deemed but they’d surely prefer to keep you standing for their performance because they want to be adored as they should be! These bands are full of sonic awesome sauce – if the teary parts of gram parsons or whispyness of Cocteau Twins heal you. Fit it with a guitar hammers with these two bands.

ALBUM REVIEW: First up here’s the UK’s The Sorry Kisses new one Keep Smiling (the music always tastes better from England sometimes) featuring the very angelic Hayley Hutchinson as the singer songwriter with the support of her gentleman caller Sam Forrest. This being valentines month and all I asked Sam how he met Haley. He says “They both were playing music in York England for too many years and eventually one summer we hooked up over whiskey, cats and a few gram parsons records…“ OK she might have a different notion of this but allas they make some amazing cosmic music that is as thick with distortion as it is gritty at times with a confluent delivery. Peppered with a healthy does of melodic flavors fit for any music collectors disparate moody taste. Needless to say they are a very prolific couple because of this meshing. If your’re a cat lover or a hater or fan of Hum there’s a few tracks on this one that will make you seek out your perfect match or at least a few biscuits to eat while you gaze in amazement at a poster of Gram Parsons as it were a dream that’s become real. Ok, but lets not stop the dream sequence there; as there’s three dimensions to the Kisses’s music. One of which has this whole 80’s nod to Smiths/cure/echo all in one acoustic pop-ditty vibe with a song called “Blue Skys” that you should check out. Further evidence is backed up by of their passion for country evidenced by a bunch of covers they did during a winter hibernation. We’ve included one here for your love affair to begin. I see another video with the stalker ode (we love those) with the track called “Fanboy” that talks about the good nature that can turn sour where the star actually gives the fan a chance. Sounds like a country theme to you maybe? Give these tracks a listen and mix them up with anything in your Poptopia fantasy band. You’ll do alright. Because the kids are alright!

The Joy Formidable – In anticipation of the Big Roar being released as a follow-up to A Balloon Called Moaning. Here’s a live video to get you excited. This Ritzy Bryan can sure deliver swiftly some serious songstering wrapped in this subtle and delicious alternative Scottish like sounds of Cocteau Twins reverb blanket. If you don’t believe me just grab a song and check it out for yourself. You’ll be an instant fan and all we ask is for you take a hit, breath and exhale. The music is that energized as if you were swimming in a room filled with static electricity.

Here they are performing the lead-off track “The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade “on Rabid in the Kennel with Jack Rabid’s (The Big Takeover) radio podcast broadcast show that they sometimes film/document in Brooklyn USA. The recording is real pro so the band sounds like super awesome sauce.